Make friends with search tools

The most common setting I change here is “Any time.” I search a lot for technical articles, and if they’re more than a year old they’re generally not that helpful.

Turn off search history

Google says that they want to “improve your results”, but previous searches can completely mess up your results. I used Anita’s example here. Having searched for “Big Day Out” in the past, she couldn’t find material related to “BDO Spicers.”

If you already know where you’re going, type it into the address bar

I see a lot of people typing facebook.com into a google search, or trademe.co.nz instead of just typing it into the address bar.

There are two reasons why this isn’t a good idea: there’s no guarantee that the top search result will actually be what you’re looking for and it eliminates a whole step. It’s also very important to do this if you’re doing your online banking or other highly sensitive internet activity.

Try a new browser

It might take you a little while to get used to it, but most people who escape from Internet Explorer don’t go back.

I recommend Firefox. They usually catch the security updates before the other guys, but most importantly, they don’t sell anything.